Mango Chutney Brie Burgers

One of Jerms' and I's most favourite things to do on a Sunday night is to cook up some homemade burgers, grab some of the most saltiest and vinegaryist chips we can find and sit down to an evening of 'dinner and a movie'. Last night I was finally able to show him my most favourite movie from growing up, Stand By Me (special shout out to you special ladies who also love SBM and a good S&V chip).

The idea for this particular burger sprang forth from a fridge purge and was DELICIOUS. How can you really go wrong with brie on anything? I mean really?
I thought that I would share a few ideas for some pretty easy ways to clean up your burgers. Hamburgers do have a pretty bad rap for being unhealthy, but that's really not true. What makes them 'junk' food is buying them from 'junk' restaurants.  First thing I always recommend is: make your own. It is not at all hard to make your own hamburgers and you will save yourself a boatload of money, flavour and calories if you're counting. There are lots of recipes online for making your own burgers with mixed spices, egg, crackers/bread crumbs etc. but we prefer just simple seasoned hamburger meat.

A couple of other ideas for cleaning up your burgers:
- choose lean ground beef as much as possible
- cut the mayo and butter and serve up with a big plate of greens
- whole wheat buns
- cooking in a skillet is the easiest way to make your burgers, but I recommend either bar-b-que'ing or broiling them because the fat either drops through on to the coals and produces an amazing smoky flavour on a grill or drops in to a drip tray under a broiler.

Bon appétit!

To make your own burgers:
Ingredients:
1lb/500g ground sirloin
Salt and pepper to season (or better yet, Adobo)
Brie Cheese
Mango Chutney
Red onion
Whole wheat buns

Directions:
1. Evenly divide meat into 4 portions. DO NOT OVERWORK YOUR MEAT. Trust me. Try to handle it as little as possible. This will prevent your burgers from getting tough and gritty and this way they will stay nice and moist. With a light touch, gently form each one into a ball, then shape into a 3/4-inch-thick patty. With thumb, make a 1/4-inch-deep indentation in the center of each (this prevents burgers from getting rounded tops during grilling). Transfer to a plate; cover with plastic wrap, and refrigerate until ready to cook, up to 1 day.

2. Heat grill to high (it should be difficult to hold your hand above the grates). Moisten a folded paper towel with vegetable oil; grasp with tongs, and quickly wipe over the grates.

3. Generously season patties on both sides with salt, pepper and Adobo. Place patties on grill; cover, and cook to desired doneness, 2 to 4 minutes per side for medium-rare.

4. Just before the burgers are ready, toast the inside of the buns under a broiler or over a grill or in a toaster.

5. Serve up your burgers the way you like them. As I'm suggesting in this post, with a slice of brie cheese, topped with mango chutney and some red onion and greens. Mmmmmm.